Normandy Road Signs

This set covers a number of road signs typical of the Normandy area. The instruction sheet gives pictures of the actual sign, some of which clearly showing US soldiers, confirming that they were taken during WW2. The design of the decals corresponds very well to the real signs.

The modeler is left to create the pole and plate, and in the case of the white direction signs, to paint the black border. The pictures will come in handy to obtain a faithful reproduction.

Looking at the decals themselves, it is immediately clear that they are printed to a very high resolution, with only a very slight trace of pixelation; even the smaller text are still readable. The only thing that gives them away as not being printed by the big decal companies is that they are printed on continuous film. Being laserjet printed, it is also wise to protect them before weathering starts on the model. In fact, one of my decals showed small damage (which might be due to my own clumsiness), but (if you can spot it on the scan below) it might easily pass for some battle damage.
Something very peculiar to these decals (and actually to all of the latest releases by Braille Strike is that the multi-color decals are printed "upside down". In other words, the colors are printed first and the pale colors at the end. This means that you have to flip the decals over when putting them on the vehicle (which is easy) and that it is difficult to judge the quality of the multi-color decals while still on the sheet, as the (translucent) pale colors create a sort of haze over the rest of the colors. I hope to be able to use them soon and tell our readers how this turns out. Just remember that the decals that are in one color only are NOT upside down.

My scanner always has trouble scanning white decals on a blue background, that's why the image from the Braille Strike website has been included on the right.
Note that the picture on the right shows how the color decals should appear once flipped over, while the picture on the left shows how they appear on the sheet.

Conclusion

Braille Scale continues to expand its series of well-printed decals. This set will really enhance a Normandy diorama and one can hope that Braille Scale expands its range with similar signs from other areas.

Review sample kindly provided by Braille Strike.

Article Last Updated:
28 May 2021